11 Dec 2017

What comes to mind when you want to pass on a smile? At Morgridge College of Education, we thought coffee was a good way to make people smile. And then we thought some more and thought helping rural education could make children and educators across Colorado smile. And then connected the two ideas.

From August until November, Morgridge College admissions team members traveled across Colorado and parts of the Western United States to attend graduate recruitment fairs and conferences. At each conference our recruiters had one goal, to attract potential students to learn more about Morgridge. Learn about our programs, learn about our history, learn about our commitment to social good. After their chat, the potential student received a coffee card with a catch.

The coffee card was a gift card to a local coffee shop in that town. It included a gift so the potential student could go get a cup of coffee on us and digest their options for higher education; and it included an extra voucher so the individual could give away a cup of coffee to someone else to make them smile. Give the card to anyone, we said. Give it to your mentor, your friend, someone you met on the street, the person who held the door for you, just make someone’s day. Then, please tag us on social media using #MCEgiveahand and let us know why you gave away your coffee.

Now, we make the connection. For each coffee card redeemed, Morgridge committed to making a donation to the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance to fund advocacy. Rural schools have unique challenges in education and we want to give them a voice and the tools to advocate for their students and educators.

We had some success on social media. We had some phone calls from small coffee shops who thanked us for supporting their small business. We had some individuals who loved getting their coffee. And at the end of it all, we got to donate $2,500 to rural schools in Colorado. Because if we don’t invest in leaders today, we can’t expect leaders of tomorrow.